Free to open July 4th concert

The song “Portsmouth, Ohio,” written by Scioto County native songwriter and recording artist Steve Free, will get a new touch on the Fourth of July.

Free will again open for the Portsmouth Wind Symphony at their annual Fourth of July Patriotic Concert at Tracy Park, but he will also perform with the orchestra and one of the songs they will collaborate on is the song he was commissioned by the Portsmouth Bicentennial Committee to write for the city’s 2015 bicentennial celebration.

“We did it with them when we did that folk concert and it was pretty good,” Free said. “The orchestral arrangement is a little different. It’s a little peppier. It’s got all the horns in it. I was thrilled at the way they did it.”

In addition to singing the song at the folk concert, Free also sang it at the recent reenactment Portsmouth Spartans football game.

Free and his band will kick off the days festivities on the fourth.

“I usually do that every year down there with the orchestra,” Free said. “My band usually plays before the orchestra. They (orchestra) start around 7 (p.m.) and we usually start about 5:30 (p.m.) and play until a quarter till 7. Then they come up and do half of their show. We go up in the middle of their show and play another four or five songs and we do a couple of songs with them.”

Free said there has been a big demand for the CD of the song “Portsmouth, Ohio,” because of its tie to the city’s bicentennial. He said the easiest way for people to get the song is from him or from a member of the Bicentennial Committee, though he anticipates having it on sale at the Scioto County Welcome Center and Market Street Cafe.

Another of Free’s songs – “A Million Years” has just hit the number one spot on the International Music Charts for June 2015 as reported by GTE Music Magazine Nashville. The song was written by Steve for his mother and dedicated to Mothers everywhere . His next single “Into The Sun” will be released to Americana, Country and AC stations worldwide on July 13.